Until September
by WeasleySeeker
Summary: Rose and Scorpius finally go public. Their parents, unsurprisingly, have some issues.


_Scorpius—_

_Meet me tonight - usual time, usual place. It's urgent._

_Rose xx_

Scorpius stared at the hastily scribbled note yet again as he waited, racking his brain for the thousandth time over what it could be. He hadn't seen her for a week, since the start of the summer holidays, so he was worried. Rose wasn't normally one for saying things concisely, meaning one thing was for sure: whatever she wanted to see him about couldn't be good. She seemed distressed. He wondered why on Earth that could be.

There was a soft pop from the other side of the neighbouring tree and Rose emerged from behind it. The look on her face was enough to confirm Scorpius's suspicions.

"Hey," she said, kissing him quickly, and Scorpius could sense her agitation already. "I haven't got much time."

"Why not?" he asked immediately. "Do you need to go somewhere? Rose, what's wrong?"

There was a pause, and Rose opened and closed her mouth a few times before finally speaking. "Well... it's just... I told my parents about us like we said, and my dad went absolutely ballistic," she confessed. "Mum's trying to calm him down, but she's getting nowhere. He's grounded me - the only reason I can be here now is because I'm meant to be shopping with Mum and she let me see you instead. But she refuses to lie for me again."

Scorpius swallowed; he'd seen this coming, but that didn't mean it wasn't a blow. "He's really that serious about it?"

"Looks like it," Rose said, rolling her eyes. "He really needs to grow up."

"Yeah, well my parents weren't too pleased about it either," Scorpius told her. "I got a couple of half-hearted lectures about 'besmirching the Malfoy name'. They aren't fighting too hard, though. I think me being Sorted into Gryffindor has probably besmirched the Malfoy name enough as it is," he said proudly.

"Probably," Rose laughed. "Dad's not budging, though. Mum thinks she'll be able to talk him round before too long, but I think he'd probably be happier about it if I stayed where he can see me for a bit, kept on my best behaviour."

"You mean we shouldn't see each other until we go back to school?"

"Yeah. I'll miss you, but I love my family, and I know you love yours too, despite your differences," Rose said quietly. "So it's for the best."

Scorpius said nothing. He wished that it didn't have to be like this, but there was nothing he could do about it.

She sighed. "To be honest I think he'd be almost as bad as this if he found out I'd been secretly dating _any_ guy for over a year, so don't take it too personally. It's like I'm _seven_, not seventeen. He's already ordering Hugo to keep an eye on me once we're back at school."

Scorpius laughed. "Well your dad has always been a little overprotective. Okay, _very_ overprotective," Scorpius amended, after a look from Rose.

"Yes. But he's reasonable, if you give him time." At the mention of time, she checked her watch and looked a little panicked.

"You need to go now, don't you?" Scorpius asked, and Rose nodded apologetically. "So... I guess this is it until September then."

"Until September," Rose agreed.

Then her lips were on his, and although they knew it wasn't forever, their kisses still tasted of goodbye.

"I really need to go now," Rose said awkwardly, pulling away as the kisses mounted in intensity. There was a pause; neither of them wanted to say goodbye. Rose started to leave, but then she turned back. "Oh, I almost forgot," she said, pulling a brown envelope from her pocket. "I got these developed. There were some nice ones of us, so I did you some extra copies."

"Thanks," said Scorpius, taking it from her, and then he caught Rose's arm before she could turn away again. "Rose, I love you."

"I love you too," she said, and then she was gone.

Sighing, Scorpius opened the envelope and looked at the first moving photograph in the pile. It had probably been taken by Albus or Alice, because it showed Rose, Scorpius and Hagrid, sitting around the table in his hut against the customary backdrop of animal skins and carcasses. Something was evidently very funny, because all three of them were falling about laughing - Rose even had tears streaming down her face. Scorpius couldn't remember what it was, and that irked him. He couldn't even ask Rose about it. _Not until September, anyway_, he thought bitterly.

He knew that Rose's dad would come around and that they could be together again before long, but that wasn't all. He also knew that after just one more year at Hogwarts, they'd be out in the real world with even more challenges and obstacles to face. He looked at his photographic self and was envious. He wanted to relive that moment over and over again, because it looked so pure and simple. He wished life could always be like that.

* * *

**A/N: For Challenge #1 on the RoseScorpius Fans Forum (write a drabble featuring a photograph - 100 to 1000 words). I hope you liked it! I seem to be going through a Gryffindor!Scorpius phase at the moment, no idea why.**

**Disclaimer: All of this belongs to J K Rowling.**


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